Ranking Every Texas A&M Football Season in the SEC: #11 - 2017
I was a lot closer to ranking this one as the worst season than a lot of you might think. It was the App State game that differentiated things for me: in a vacuum, that loss was definitely the worst the Aggies have had in the past twelve years, but it sure didn't impact me quite like the 2017 UCLA game did. That game was the ultimate gut punch.
Even aside from that, this was just such a bland season. I suppose the 50-43 win over Arkansas to continue the streak was pretty nice. Christian Kirk's kickoff return for a touchdown in that one was a season highlight, to be sure. There was an awesome moment against South Carolina where we saw perhaps our only glimpse of a wrecking crew-like defense at Kyle under Sumlin.
Other than that, though, what was memorable about this season in a good way? A couple of amazing throws by Kellen and an insane catch by Kirk against Alabama? #3 almost putting the team on his back in the bowl against Wake Forest? There is a dearth of positive memories here.
The Florida game in week 6 is a perfect metaphor for the whole season: consummately dissatisfying and kind of feels like a weird dream. Did Florida really wear strange, gator-skin inspired uniforms? Did Feleipe Franks really have a strangely stumbling run that went for almost 80 yards mid-game? Did Beth Mowins and her announcing crew really spend that much time talking about how the uniforms almost blended into the field and how that might make it hard for Kellen to see where defenders were? And the final score was 19-17? Yuck.
Also, we only beat Nicholls by 10 this year. That doesn't get talked about a lot, which I'm fine with, but it's a thing that happened.